Catalyzing climate action

While strategy and planning are essential as a directional guide, we have a bias for taking action that’s informed by strategic thinking.  We help you get things done, accelerating progress toward your sustainability and climate goals.

We know sustainability, when properly aligned and integrated, transforms our clients into higher-functioning organizations. For over a decade, Verdis Group has been integrating and aligning sustainability across organizations. 

We provide support through ongoing coordination and implementation of priority strategies. We expand your team’s capacity, both in time and with the diverse skills our team provides, to spur action toward your goals.

To activate your sustainability plan, we offer a variety of implementation activities.

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Project Implementation

Our team of experts excels at turning plans and ideas into actionable and tangible realities. A crucial aspect of project implementation is the ability to vet, prioritize, and strategically choose which special projects to undertake, and then design the project and implementation approach for success.

The goal is to avoid project overload and focus on the most important initiatives. This process involves navigating through uncertainties and making informed decisions about what to pursue. We help you decide what projects to undertake and how to adeptly navigate emergent opportunities that may arise unexpectedly. Examples of such projects could include negotiating power purchase agreements, engaging in discussions with utilities, and conducting pilot projects with internal and external partners.

Engagement and Communication

People participate in what they help create, so we design programs, systems, and structures that are participatory in nature and integrate them across the organization. Engagement is built into each implementation activity. Here are a few specific tools we use to engage your team in achieving your sustainability goals:

1. End-to-End Communication Campaigns 
2. Technology of Participation Facilitation Methods
3. Sustainability Engagement Survey
4. Engagement Strategies and Programming
5. Sustainable Behavior Change Programs

Learn more about our engagement services here.

Governance

Confronted with the challenges of climate change and net-zero emissions targets in the coming decade, organizational leadership must be adaptable, practical, and attuned to sustainability. We invest in increasing your sustainability leadership’s capacity and right-sizing accountability structures that work to remove barriers and provide resources for organizations to accomplish their goals.

Working Groups 

We implement and lead working groups within organizations focused on your key climate and sustainability goals. We assist these groups in focusing on a specific goal and planning a project that they design, pilot, review, and roll out.

Data-Driven Feedback Loops

A highly effective organization evolves with the flow of information. Creating a feedback loop of data helps organizations make timely, data-informed decisions. We collect and analyze data, then communicate the most important information in the best format to the right audiences. One example is using our sustainability dashboard for easy and streamlined communication with key parties.

Expanding Capacity

Whether you have a dedicated sustainability team or not, we can support and supplement that team—or we can fill that role. We can design and develop an in-house sustainability team or assist in hiring and onboarding a sustainability coordinator. We’re here to provide institutional knowledge on sustainability for our long-term clients and fill in any gaps. 

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Verification

A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory accounts for the emissions that your organization is responsible for. A GHG inventory should include both direct and indirect emissions, known as Scope 1, 2, and 3 under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We both conduct inventories and verify existing inventories for you.

External Partnerships and Fund Management

We assist organizations in navigating state regulations and mandates and communicate with local utilities and governing bodies. We also provide advising and strategies to find, apply for, and report on, funding opportunities for our clients. With numerous funding opportunities available, we help you select, write, receive, and manage grants to advance your sustainability and climate goals.

Green Funds are mechanisms that provide resources across the organization. We work with you to establish a Green Fund and support the process from ideation to analysis and recommendations.

Sustainable Design 

We assist you in developing sustainable construction and design guidelines that inform future construction and renovation to ensure alignment with your organization’s sustainability goals.

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Behavior Change Programs

We have years of experience and deep expertise in identifying, designing, and implementing strategies to change behaviors and build engagement. Our goal is to help your organization’s employees shift from energy-consuming habits to energy-conserving habits using very real, specific, and research-validated strategies that are effective at changing the behavior of building occupants.

Years of Experience

We are experts in identifying, designing, and implementing strategies to change behaviors and build engagement. We use the tools of Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) to create behavior-change campaigns that work. Our goal is to help your organization’s people shift from resource-consuming habits to resource-conserving habits– whether that’s in the area of energy, water, waste, recycling, composting or active transportation.

Positively Influencing Behavior to Achieve Greater Resource Efficiency

Humans are undoubtedly creatures of habit, and those habits are sometimes, but not always, bad habits. The reasons people behave the way they do aren’t always clear or rational, but the good news is that habitual behaviors can and do change with proper guidance and prompting.

Since human behavior has a significant impact on the amount of resources an organization consumes, changing behavior so that individuals make more sustainable choices is a critical part of any sustainability strategy. When it comes to energy conservation, today many organizations have smart building control systems that do a great job at conserving energy – but these technological solutions are not enough on their own to close the final gap in ensuring maximum building efficiency. To reach that point, building occupants need to be trained to make energy conservation part of their regular routine.

Our Approach

First, we identify the target behavior that we are trying to encourage. We then baseline the targeted behavior via a survey and/or systematic observations. Doing so ensures we have a place from which to measure progress. We then decide which CBSM tools will be most effective to bring about the desired behavior change in the particular context. Next, working closely with the client, we develop strategies that leverage those tools in the most effective ways. We develop a communication plan that taps existing communication channels. We then implement the campaign, usually for a period of 6-10 weeks. We conduct post-intervention measurements once the campaign has concluded to assess effectiveness and ensure sustained behavior change. Finally, we provide recommendations for maintaining the desired behaviors so that they can and will be ingrained into the culture of the organization. For many of our clients, we repeat this process a few times a year in order to focus on different sustainable behaviors that will help them achieve their sustainability goals.

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Let’s talk!

Verdis Group’s implementation services supply your organization with the necessary expertise and tools to set yourself apart as a climate leader. Reach out today to start your journey with us.